Ralph Elrod Who Threatened To Kill Black Neighbors, Killed Two Sheriff Deputies And Has Been Sentenced To Life

This case brought back memories of Kyle Dinkheller, whose murder also happened in the State of Georgia. It also reminds me of discussions of how law enforcement treats suspects differently and gives reasonable inference that it is due to the color of their skin. How often have we seen videos where law enforcement commands suspects to put their hands on the hood of the car, or lock their hands behind their heads, handcuff and search them before telling them they are under arrest? Has America’s gun culture, stereotypes and bigotry, established that guns are only dangerous if and when on a Black suspect, as opposed to a White suspect?

Two Peach County, Georgia sheriff’s deputies might be alive today had they not given Ralph Stanley Elrod Jr. the benefit of the doubt that he would be arrested peacefully. This is not to blame the sheriff deputies. I can’t honestly say if Peach County Sheriffs treat all suspects in the same manner or not. What I can say is that if law enforcement in other jurisdictions behaved in the same manner, then innocent lives would not have been taken. Tamir Rice, Philando Castille, and Justine Damond, among others, come to mind.

There are too many cases of law enforcement officers being killed by Whites where major media barely makes a whisper and Blue Lives Matter reports a story that omits details about White cop-killers.

I did manage to dig up an article on Blue Lives Matter that mentions the cop-killer in this case. It is dated November 7, 2016. It incorrectly reports that the deputies were “… immediately upon their arrival they were both shot without warning by Elrod.” As the video in this post shows, the deputies were not “immediately” shot upon their arrival. A deputy had a conversation with Elrod and was shot after telling Elrod that he was under arrest. The article also omits what the cop killer did that justified a 911 call.

In another article, Blue Lives Matter says in the headlines that one of the deputies was “ambushed.” While the shooting was unexpected, the cop-killer was standing right in the deputy’s face, arguing with him. Blue Lives Matter could not report what actually happened because in this case, a White man argued with a deputy sheriff, which goes against the stereotype that only Blacks argue with law enforcement.

The following is what happened that led to Ralph Elrod, Jr. killing Peach County, Georgia sheriff’s deputies Patrick Sondron and Daryl Smallwood.

On November 6, 2016, Ralph Elrod, Jr. was 57-years old. He later told investigators that he had downed a six-pack of beer that day. At the time, his son Jarrod was a sheriff’s deputy in Jones County, Georgia. Jarrod told investigators that his dad was bitter, consumed by anger, and known to act unpredictably when he was drinking.

Elrod and his second wife moved to their house in 2012. About 11 months before the incident, a Black family became his neighbor. His neighbor has nephews who rode a four-wheeler and a dirt bike allegedly, near or in Elrod’s yard.

On November 6, 2016, one of the neighbors, Kelvin Ross, was riding a four-wheeler. Elrod came out into his driveway armed with a shotgun. Ross began recording. Macon Telegraph reports the following recorded exchange;

The neighbors called the cops. Deputy Patrick Sondron went to the neighbors’ house and spoke to the teens about their exchange with Elrod. He also watched the cellphone video. Deputy Daryl Smallwood was in a separate patrol car and he and Deputy Sondron drove over to Elrod’s house. Elrod walked out to talk to them with a Glock 43 pistol hidden in the back of his waistband.

Elrod told the deputies;

“Man, I’ve had multiple complaints with these people over here … running these damn quads (four-wheelers) and dirt bikes up and down the road. … They’ll get out there and pop wheelies back and forth. … Ain’t nobody doing nothing about it.”

Deputy Sondron asked Elrod why he took his gun out with him, and Elrod denied having a gun when he confronted the Black teens. Elrod claimed that he told the teens to quit running up and down the “damn road” and that was it.

Deputy Sondron then told Elrod that there is a video that recorded everything he said and a picture of him with a gun in his hand. Elrod claimed it was his squirrel gun and that he had been hunting squirrels. Deputy Sondron informed Elrod that he, (Elrod), told the neighbor he was going to kill him, and it was all on video. He asked Elrod where his gun was and Elrod responded by asking what difference does it make.

That is when Deputy Sondron told Elrod he was under arrest. Elrod replied “No”, reached for the gun hidden beneath his shirt, and shot Deputy Sondron at point blank range. Elrod then turned his attention to Deputy Smallwood and shot him in the head.

Elrod did not try to render aid. Instead, he went into his house, changed clothes and came back into his driveway in tactical gear carrying an AR 15 and a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with buckshot.

Neighbors had called the cops when hearing the gunshots. Elrod took cover behind a patrol car, shooting it out with the police. Byron, Georgia police officer Wesley Griffis wounded Elrod in the stomach. Elrod continued to shoot, reload, and shoot. It was only after he doubled in pain that he surrendered.

A screen shot from dashcam video taken in the minutes after Ralph Elrod shot and killed Peach County sheriff’s deputies Patrick Sondron and Daryl Smallwood.

Less than 24 hours after Ralph Elrod was taken to the hospital, he gave a statement. The videos and statement were not publicly released until this week after Elrod entered a plea agreement. Had Elrod gone to trial and been convicted, he was facing the death penalty. By pleading guilty, he has been sentenced to two life sentences without parole.

Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney David Cooke issued a statement where he stated in pertinent part;

“The decision to accept a plea wasn’t one made rashly or without a lot of thought. In fact, I’d previously refused a plea offered by the defense. I said I’d only allow it if I was approached by the deputies’ families and if they wanted it. And that’s what ended up happening.”

To Xena:
Thank you for bringing this case back up. I spoke of this when it 1st happened. I’m also glad that you reminded people of how there is little to no outrage when LEOs are killed by white cop killers.

To me the best thing out of this was Off. Patrick Sondron’e son Jason writing an open letter. In it he put the blame on Ralph Elrod the white man who killed his dad and partner. Too many LEOs and pro police people will have no problem mentioning by name Barack Obama, Colin Kaepernick, Beyonce,Rev Al Sharpton,AGs Holder and Lynch, yet they will leave out the name of the white cop killer, while saying that#bluelivesmatter,#policelivesmatter,
#backtheblue and all of the other hashtags.

chuquestaquenumber1,
Yes, it was a good thing that Officer Patrick Sondron’s son named his father’s murder in his open letter.

I went to Blue Lives Matter and searched for the name “Christian McCall”. In May of this year, McCall, of York County, S.C., plead guilty to killing one officer and wounding three other officers. He was sentenced to life without parole. The case is not old — the officers were shot in January of this year. There were no returns in their search engine for that cop-killer.

Cases like this never get mainstream attention and I’m glad people like you bring them up. The Dallas Shooting got so much airplay when it happened, but whenever it’s a White killer murdering cops, it’s radio silence.

One similar case I remember was in Iowa where this one Confederate flag wearing guy who complained about some Black people taking a knee during the national anthem straight up MURDERS two cops in Des Moines. It was amazing how him and people like him are taken alive more often than not. Blue Li(v)es Matter is nothing but a racist front because those same blue lives only matter to them if they’re killed by Black people or kill Black people. That’s saying nothing about most cop killers are those with a similar complexion like Elrod, but they fly under the radar in the news. Every time I hear another Blue Lives Matter talking point, I will bring up stories like this to shove it in their faces to expose their hypocrisy. Thank you!

Ospreyshire,
There are some statistics about the number of cops killed in America, and they say that more are killed by Whites than by Blacks. In fact, there is quite a percentage difference. But, I would like to have the time to check those stats for myself, although based on researching such cases, they appear to be correct.
Re:

“Blue Li(v)es Matter is nothing but a racist front because those same blue lives only matter to them if they’re killed by Black people or kill Black people.”

That definitely seems to be the case. What I noticed about their reports on this case is that they seemed to be careful in trying to paint Elrod as a man who had done nothing wrong for the cops to be called and simply decided to “ambush” them the moment they arrived in his driveway. Neither is true. But, Elrod apparently had a problem with having Black neighbors. He was drunk, and has a history of domestic violence. There’s no doubt in my mind that had he been Black, Blue Lives Matter would have no problem blasting his background and face on their site.

I found the FBI statistics from 2008-2017, and most years have Whites as the biggest group of cop killers. Funny how the mainstream media never talks about it, but you have so many alt-wrong people talking about that 13% statistic about murder. SMH. https://ucr.fbi.gov/leoka/2017/tables/table-42.xls.

Thanks! I’ve noticed it about those cases. I was reminded of that case where that one guy killed a cop and shot others after attacking that abortion clinic, but the media totally played the mental health card and that guy got off scot-free because of a so-called insanity plea. Yeah, it’s just maddening with how people are treated. You’re absolutely right if the complexions were reversed.

Ospreyshire,
If you’re talking about Robert Dear who went on the shooting rampage at a Planned Parenthood center in Colorado, he has been court-ordered medicated. He was admitted to a state hospital for mental health treatment in effort to get him in a position to stand trial. If he won’t be table to stand trial, he will spend the rest of his life in the mental hospital.

If main stream media reported on cop killings, then more people would know who is doing the killings. However, it appears that editors are more concerned with social issues involved in police killings than they are in balanced, unbiased reporting.

Yes, I was talking about Robert Dear. I just hate how people use mental health as an excuse. Please, I personally know people with real mental issues (some severe) who would never pull off what Dear did.

Of course. It’s not so much omission all the time, but a bombardment of useless information to offset bigger stories like who does the majority of cop killings.

Robert Louis Dear shot 5 cops killing 1 during that acts of violence. Of which he killed 2 civilians and wounded 4. He committed these acts of violence because of his political and religious views. However,this was not deemed a War on Cops nor was this deemed an act of terrorism.

That was done by Scott Michael Greene. Greene was a Trump supporter. Now I normally don’t care who a person supports. However, when Obama was president his opponents constantly looked to see if a criminal in any way supported him, therefore if someone looks for a criminal that’s a Trump supporter I can’t complain.

That’s right! I almost forgot that guy’s name and I do remember that Trump sign in his yard when I researched that story. It’s amazing with all the moral myopia going on whenever people think about criminality linked to politicians.

Wow. I can’t even find the right words to describe how wrong this is. I mean, you’d think this would’ve been national news: two deputies shot and then a shootout with police? Sheesh!
Yeah, something definitely smells rotten in the states of America. There should’ve been crazy amounts of coverage…but I can’t remember a blip. Awful.

What I was able to find was on the news local to that area of Georgia. Last week I saw a tweet about the incident. I then looked it up and found that Ralph Elrod entered a plea the same day. There’s lot of partial information that floats around on social media. In my opinion, it turned focus on the threat to the Black teens while leaving out that Elrod turned into a cop-killer. Of course, the threat to kill them was bad and had it been recent, it would be worth blogging. But, I saw much more to this case.